British Columbia First Nation Leaders call for an End to Net Pen Aquaculture amid Net Pen Sea Lice Infestations | June 25, 2020
The countdown until the Sept 30 deadline begins. We have to unite and take collective action to get this industry off our coast, starting with farms in the Discovery Islands.
Reports published by fish farm companies Mowi, Cermaq and Grieg show that 37% of salmon farms across all regions exceeded government-mandated limits for parasitic lice. A recent independent study found that a whopping 94% of young wild salmon examined during their migration through the Discovery Islands (near Campbell River) were infected with the parasite, which is lethal to the fish. In response, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) called for an end to all open-net pen salmon farming in the province.
Justin Trudeau promised to follow the recommendations from the $37 million Cohen Commission that concluded that salmon farms in the Discovery Islands should be removed by Sept 30, 2020 at the latest.
It is time to step up and demand all fish farms are OUT!!
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HISTORY: Sea Lice Infestation- Since April, reports published by three fish farm companies operating in British Columbia waters have indicated a major sea lice infestation at 37% of salmon farms across all regions where sea lice limits far exceed the government-mandated limits. Independent biologist Alexandra Morton recently released a preliminary study describing the examination of juvenile out-migrating salmon for sea lice in four regions of the BC coast near these infected open water net pens.
The regions sampled and sea lice infection rates (%) were:
- Broughton Archipelago (34%)
- Clayoquot Sound (72%) data by Cedar Coast Field Station
- Nootka Sound (87%)
- Discovery Islands (94%)
The area of greatest concern was the Discovery Islands area where 50% of farms exceeded government-mandated limits and where the sea lice infection rate for sockeye was 99% and the rate for pink and chum was 90%.
To date, DFO has ignored recommendations by the Cohen Commission calling for the removal of all net pens from the Discovery Islands by September 2020.
The only place the farms stayed under the limit was in Broughton, where five salmon farms have recently been removed and sea lice on Broughton juveniles were the lowest of the four areas tested. The industry is on schedule to decommission more farms every year by the authority of local First Nations. This will be the first region worldwide where the impact of removing salmon farms will continue to be measured against 20 years of data on infection rates.
In March, in light of the severity of the infestations, DFO granted the industry a 42-day grace period where they are allowed to exceed the number of sea lice thought safe for wild salmon in order to get the operations under control. Meanwhile, these operations continue to shed dangerous lice levels into the path of young salmon. Internal DFO memos from 2013 and 2014 suggest that in some areas the drug Slice used by the industry to treat sea lice was no longer killing lice on farm salmon who were becoming drug resistant in BC as they have elsewhere in the world.
Summary of the June 25th Press Conference: First Nation Leadership Council Calls for End to Open-Net Pen Salmon Farming in British Columbia:
On the heels of these sea lice infestations and an escape event last month near Shaw Point, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC)—comprised of the political executives of the BC Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs— held a press conference today calling for an end to all open water net pen salmon farming in BC.
The First Nations’ Chiefs and representatives each spoke to their concerns about the impacts of net pen aquaculture on wild salmon stocks and as a result to their culture, food security, and people.
Several speakers emphasized DFO’s failure to intervene despite their own reports showing negative impacts to Fraser River stocks and pointed out the government’s failure to comply with key recommendations of the Cohen Commission, including a call for DFO to prohibit net pen salmon farming in the Discovery Islands by 2020.
They pointed to the success of the Broughton Archipelago where 5 net pens have already been decommissioned and the rest are scheduled to be removed by 2023, calling for the BC government and DFO to expand this agreement throughout the BC coast where the industry has been operating in the traditional territories of First Nations without their consent.